The city council of the only U.S. locale with an all-Muslim governing body and mayor unanimously voted on Tuesday night to prohibit the display of LGBTQ Pride flags on all city properties.
Mayor Pro Tem and Councilman Mohammed Hassan of Hamtramck, Michigan, a city of about 28,000 next to Detroit, introduced the resolution. It states, in part, that “the government of the City of Hamtramck does not allow any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags to be flown on the City’s public properties, and that only, the American flag, and the nations’ flags that represent the international character of our City shall be flown.”
According to the Detroit Free Press, Hassan told opponents of the proposal at a council meeting this week, “You guys are the ones making problems.”
“Please don’t threaten us. … I’m the elected official. … I’m working for the people, what the majority of the people like.”
“We serve everybody equally with no discrimination, but without favoritism,” Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib added. “Those people who accused me of hating them, half of my boards and commissions are either LGBTQ, or supporters for LGBTQ. I never fired anybody who belong to the LGBTQ.”
In 2021, Ghalib was elected after voicing criticism towards former mayor Karen Majewski for displaying the Pride flag outside city hall. Going back to 2008, conservative Christians in the community formed an alliance with the local Muslim community to oppose a city ordinance that aimed to include the LGBT community as a protected group.
“We want to respect the religious rights of our citizens,” City Councilman Nayeem Choudhury noted at the meeting. “You guys are welcome. … [but] why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are. … By making this [about] bigotry … it’s making it like you want to hate us.”
Hassan Aoun, a Muslim community leader from Dearborn, Mich., stated, “Pride month, don’t put it down our throats. You can be gay by yourself. … Do not put [the Pride flag] on city property.”
